What do YOU want?
by EC-Chan
Summary: Sasuke has spent years alone, but when Sakura starts to treat him like any other guy a feeling of dissatisfaction emerges. SasukeSakura.


Title: What Do YOU Want?

Author: EC-Chan

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own this series or any characters in it.

Things to know: for the purposes of this story Sakura is being taught on the side by Tsunade, but Sasuke has not left Konoha yet. This will be Sasu/Saku

AN: I found this story that I had written like a year ago at least on a flash drive that I thought was stolen, but my mom found it in the bottom of her pen jar. I read it and edited it a little, but remember it not being complete. However, when I got to the end I could think of no more appropriate ending.

Sorry I'm so lame and haven't updated any of my other stories, but I really haven't been focused on fanfiction lately so it's best if I write in the future that I write the story completely before posting. But the problem with that is now I'm lazy and I don't want to put it in separate documents to post separate chapters… oh well.

1.

Sakura sighed as she saw the produce stand she had been looking for for the last ten minutes. It was one of her few days off in between missions and Kakashi had sent them all home the day before to rest for the day instead of training (something both Naruto and Sasuke objected to vehemently). Sakura's vacation, however, had quickly turned into running errands for her mother, which kind of annoyed her. Well, really annoyed her actually. Unlike Sasuke and Naruto she enjoyed her days off.

The last item on her list was onions. The produce stand she was currently stopping at was slightly more expensive, but she preferred it to the alternative. Since it was the last item she knew she had enough cash left to make her purchase. However, when she had gotten to the stand she saw that mostly everything had been sold out.

"Sorry Miss Sakura," the clerk said with an apologetic smile. "Apparently there was some scare today about snow. Everyone stocked up. You're welcome to whatever's left, though."

Sakura had laughed at this. It was typical of the villagers of Konoha to not want to go out in the cold. There were very few snowy days here so it was understandable that it would cause mass panic. However, it was pretty funny all the same that it only took snow to scare everyone into their homes.

"It's not a problem, I'm just looking for an onion, I'm sure you have at least one left," Sakura reassured her. Sakura wandered over to the place where onions usually were kept and was a little shocked to not spot one right away. She began rifling through the remains of the apple and pepper sections, hoping desperately one got misplaced.

It took her a moment before she found her prize. She was just reaching to grab it, however, when someone else swooped down and stole the onion without any warning. Sakura let out a scream of surprise, throwing her hands up in the air as she did so. Apples and peppers fell, bounced, and rolled on the shelf, but none plummeted to the ground thankfully. Produced secured, Sakura turned and faced a young man about her age, maybe a year or two older, chewing gum and headphones in his ears. He was staring at her consideringly and holding the onion in his hand.

"Um, excuse me," Sakura said, trying to regain her dignity. "But I believe I found that and it's mine."

The young man simply stared unblinkingly at her. She started to wonder if he was retarded or something. Really, who could not blink for that long? It was unnatural! Besides she had never seen him before…he was obviously not a ninja. So, who was he? And, wait…why wasn't he answering her?

Headphones. Sakura felt herself frown. "Excuse me!" She tried louder. He still didn't respond and she wondered why he didn't even attempt to listen to her. He could obviously see that her mouth was moving and she had a problem if he was still standing there.

In one swoop she reached over and grabbed his ear phones and jerked them out of his ears. "Excuse me!" She practically shouted, her voice getting louder instead of softer. "But that onion is mine!"

The boy grabbed her hands so fast that she didn't know how it was possible. Where did the onion go? She dropped his headphones in surprise and she saw his frown deepen as he noted this. After a second he dropped her hands and bent down to retrieve his fallen article.

"Finders keepers," was all he said as he walked away not even turning back to look at her.

"No fucking way!" Sakura grumbled to herself. She stomped right up to the young boy and tapped him on his shoulder. "Look mister. I don't think you know who you're messing with."

"Of course I do," he said tactfully. "You're Sakura, the Hokage's pet."

"Hokage's pet!" Sakura sputtered indignantly. "And what is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said," he shrugged, ignoring her anger and replying in a calm, collected voice. "Look, I know you're used to special treatment, but I picked it up before you so you're out of luck. I'm sure there's another one there—you did such a good job of finding this one, I'm sure a second one will pop up in no time. Now if you'll excuse me."

"No!" Sakura said. "I will not excuse you! It is unacceptable that you have stolen my onion!"

"YOUR onion?" he didn't sound apologetic at all. "Did you pay for it already?"

"No," Sakura admitted grudgingly.

"Well, then, I don't see how you can claim it," he said. "I believe that it's Karin's Produce's onion techniquelly."

"But I found it!" Sakura said, quite aware that she was practically whining.

"And I picked it up," he stated. "Oh, dear, that's quite a problem. We both seem to have an equal claim. Too bad."

"Why don't you split it?" They both turned to stare at the clerk who had been so nice to Sakura a second before offer up the suggestion.

"No way!" Sakura said immediately.

"Sure, why not?" the boy said at the same time Sakura disagreed with this idea.

Sakura's head whipped around at his words so fast she surprised even herself that her neck did not snap. "What do you mean 'Sure, why not?'"

"Sure, why not?" the boy repeated questioningly.

"You won't give me the onion, but you'll settle for half an onion?" Sakura sputtered indignantly.

"Sure, I'm only feeding two people," he shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. I'll even pay the full price for it."

"That sounds like a very gentlemanly offer," the clerk said, obviously giving this stranger points. They both stared at Sakura, waiting for her to make her move.

"Fine," she said, giving in though she did not want to in the least. She stood there while the stranger paid for the onion and then the clerk went to get a knife to shop it in half. The young man stared at Sakura, unabashed, the entire time, but Sakura refused to both acknowledge this or speak.

The clerk returned a second later and cut the onion, put both in separate bags and then gave them a cheerful farewell. They exited the shop together. Sakura made as if she was walking away but stopped after a few steps to look over her shoulder. He was still there, standing in the doorway of the shop, staring at her.

"Who are you?!" Sakura asked, frustrated. "And why do you keep staring at me? What are you a perverted stalker or something?"

"My name is Raiden," he said. "Will you go on a date with me?"

2.

Sakura had been acting weird lately. That was the gist of all that the rest of Team 7 thought when they saw her that first week in April. She would either show up to a mission extremely pissed off and temperamental or in a happy-go-lucky state of mind, which wouldn't be that strange for Sakura except that there was no happy in-between.

"Have you become bipolar or something?" Sasuke complained to her when she tried to punch him in the face for not responding to her question. He had dodged out of the way, but, unfortunately for Naruto, the other boy got caught up in Sakura's ridiculous super human strength instead and went flying backwards into a tree.

"Of course not!" She huffed. "What would make you think of a stupid thing like that? Are you retarded or something—aren't you supposed to be some genius student?"

Wow. That's the one thing Sasuke could think at her outbursts, which were only happening more and more often. Gone were the days when Sakura could barely talk to him and would giggle in that annoying way around him. It only left this irritating arguing obnoxious girl behind.

Sasuke was not used to getting her backtalk, punches, and really any discrepancy in emotion at all. And he didn't know how he felt about getting them all now. He hadn't realized how accustomed he had grown to having Sakura's attention and how much he really didn't like to be treated like any other boy Sakura came in contact with.

What had changed? It had happened so quickly that he wasn't even sure when it had exactly happened. But it was probably when she had thrown a punch at him for being a "pervert" or something when he had done nothing and it had caught him in the chin and sent him flying into the air…well, that's when he had realized that he had descended in her mind from crush to friend… He was now on Naruto's level. And THAT was something he did not want to abide by.

The girl in question had stalked off as soon as it was apparent Sasuke was not going to acknowledge her with a reply, presumably to talk to Kakashi about the mission they were being briefed on that would take place in two days time.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto had brushed himself off and was now standing by Sasuke, whispering into his hear. Before Sasuke could knock him away Naruto moved behind him and went over to his other ear. "I know something you don't know."

"What are we five?" Sasuke grumbled. He turned now and really did try to punch Naruto in the face. Naruto blocked him easily and grinned like the idiot that he was.

"It's about Sa-KURRRR-ra," He said with a devilish grin. Now Sasuke's interest was definitely piqued. "You have to buy me a bowl of ramen and then I'll tell you."

"Like hell I am," Sasuke said, shoving him away. Naruto fell on the ground far too easily. "You've been hanging around Sakura too much and pretending you're weak."

"What was that?!" Sakura reappeared out of nowhere and looked like she was about to really do some damage.

Sasuke stared at her, kind of shocked that he had really no idea where she had come from. "Nothing," He said quickly, immediately backing down.

"That's what I thought," She said smugly.

Yes, Sasuke really didn't like to be treated just like another guy.

3.

"I KNEW you would give in!" Naruto said happily after he ordered his bowl of ramen. Sasuke simply glared impatiently at him, really regretting that he decided to empty his wallet for simple information about the demon girl.

The bowl of ramen was delivered in a short amount of time and Naruto dug in like a crazy person. Sasuke winced at the bad manners and looked away, not amused. Finally, Naruto was done and sat back in his chair.

"Well?" Sasuke asked, hating himself for even saying that.

"She has a boyfriend," Naruto giggled like a girl at this and grinned at Sasuke. "That's why she's been so moody for this week. I saw them the other day together. They were fighting. She was pissed when she saw me there and decked me without a word."

A boyfriend? This was probably the one thing that Sasuke HADN'T thought was a scenario. Sakura had a boyfriend? That caused a very unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach. A VERY unpleasant feeling…

He wasn't really aware of what he was doing anymore. Standing up, he decided maybe it would be a good time for a walk. Or perhaps it was his legs that decided this for him. He wasn't really all too sure.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called after him. "Sasuke, you said you would pay for this! I didn't bring any money Sasuke!"

Naruto turned back to the owners of the Ramen shop and flashed them his famous apologetic smile. However, he could almost see the red light in their eyes as they moved forward towards him. "SASUKE!"

4.

Sasuke wasn't one to feel lonely. Well, he was when he was a child right after everything had happened, but he had grown used to being alone. He spent his idle hours training and rebuilding the parts of the Uchiha clan's homes that his brother had destroyed.

He also read a lot as a child and he couldn't forget about the plotting of ways to find and destroy his brother. Some of his plans had been completely outrageous. Others fairly plausible. However, it was a game he liked to play: to plot out a course of action, wait a few days until he didn't really remember what he had planned and then find all the holes in it…all the ways to defeat the plan. He had always enjoyed logic games like that.

Well, no matter what he did in his spare time he was simply used to being lonely. He filled his spare moments with so much activity that wasn't even necessary that he didn't have to feel the dull ache of loosing everyone he cared about.

Now, however, after all these years of ignoring society and other human contact, he felt a dull ache in his heart coupled with a much fresher ache that seemed all the more painful. He wasn't exactly sure what this all meant except that he wasn't happy at the moment. Though he never thought he had ever felt happiness to begin with, besides when fighting of course, he felt it now. It hit him hard.

"Sasuke!" a voice called out to him. He stood up from his perch on one of the rooftops and saw that Sakura and Naruto had made their way into Uchiha territory. Sakura was literally dragging Naruto behind her and looked livid. "Sasuke!"

Why did Sasuke feel even worse when he saw Sakura? It was almost painful for him to look at her. Naruto was obviously arguing with her and trying to get away, but Sakura looked determined.

How long had Sasuke known them and he was certain that this was the first time either of them had ever entered his home… Though he hadn't invited him and he wasn't exactly happy that they were there now.

"Sasuke!" They were obviously not going to leave until they found him.

Sasuke quietly hopped from rooftop to rooftop. It didn't take him long to get behind them and between them and the gate to the outside village. He flipped over and landed in a crouched position on his feet. He moved into the middle of the street.

"Get out," he said. It wasn't exactly what he wanted or meant, but it was the first thing that projected from his mouth. His two friends froze in their tracks and turned around slowly, looking like guilty children who had just been caught.

"No," Sakura said, suddenly determined. "I found Naruto cleaning the Ramen Booth. You definitely said you would pay for his food and then left him there and he had no money."

"Well, he should have brought money," Sasuke said, not regretting that at all.

"You owe me money Sasuke, I paid for his bowl of ramen so he could leave," Sakura said angrily. "That was a jerky thing to do!"

Sasuke simply shrugged, not really caring or regretting not paying for Naruto's ramen at all. Naruto should have had him pay and then told him his information. It was stupidity on Naruto's part not Sasuke's.

'Why are you such a snob all the time?" Sakura asked angrily. "We came to visit you and the only thing you had to say when you saw us was: get out? Do you really like living here with all these houses with no one else?! You're not human!"

"Why are you an annoying, obnoxious girl?" Sasuke bit back. "You definitely have no manners. No girl should be as strong as you: that's just not attractive at all! You fight all the time and you don't shut up! How can someone like you get a boyfriend?! What kind of guy would ever want to be with such an annoying loud mouth girl with a bad temper?!"

Sakura let go of Naruto as soon as she heard the word boyfriend. "You told him?" She looked accusingly at Naruto.

"Were you trying to keep it a secret?" Sasuke asked, not amused. He was irrationally angry right now, he knew, but he was still angry. Who did she think she was to walk into his home and then stand there and berate him?

"No, I just didn't want to tell anyone until it was official," She said, looking about ready to cry. "But I don't think after this afternoon….why am I telling you any of this?! It's none of your business and you don't care! You two are supposed to be my friends and…"

Now she really did sniffle. Sasuke shot Naruto a questioning look, he simply gave him a helpless look back.

"Don't worry about it Sakura, he's a loser," Naruto reassured her and reached out to pat her back. She flung herself into his arms and started sobbing quietly. Naruto gave Sasuke another helpless look, holding her awkwardly.

"I really like him," she sniffled. "But he's leaving tomorrow….Tsunade told him that she couldn't help out his sister. Not without doing a lot of research and he didn't have enough money….and she has no time…"

Sasuke was completely lost and Naruto looked like he had no idea what to say to the girl. At least he knew what was going on, though, Sasuke thought angrily.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto said. "Not to be a pain or anything…but is there a place that all of us could possibly go and sit down?"

Sasuke felt himself tense. He did not like this idea at all, but could he really say no? Well, he could…but did he want to say no?

5.

Sasuke brought them back to his house, which he still lived in despite the oddness of this fact. He could have any pick of any house in the Uchiha estate, but he still lived in the same bedroom and ate from the same kitchen as he had always done. Somehow it gave him comfort.

"Wow," Naruto exclaimed as he looked around and then started to investigate the room they were in. "This place is huge! My house is so tiny compared to this!"

"That's because you have an apartment and not a house dummy," Sakura said. She had regained some of the control over herself during their walk to Sasuke's. However, the signs of her outburst were still there: red cheeks, puffed up eyes, and she simply seemed much quieter than normal.

"Do either of you want anything?" Sasuke asked. He had never really had to play the host before, but he figured he might as well try.

"What do you do for fun?" Naruto complained. He was now in the room next over which had used to be a living room. "There's no T.V. in here!"

"No thank you Sasuke," Sakura said, answering his previous question.

"Now, what were you babbling about before?" Sasuke asked, sitting down at the table. Sakura followed his motion, though she didn't seem to want to explain her situation to him at the moment.

Naruto filtered back into the room and sat nonchalantly next to Sakura. "Raiden went to Tsunade-Obaba today: Sakura helped him set up an appointment."

"Why did he need to see the Hokage?" Sasuke asked calmly, but was furiously trying to piece together the story in his mind.

Sakura sighed. She then told him about Raiden and his little sister who had been ill since birth. No doctor that could be sought out could explain exactly what the girl was suffering from, but it was certain that she would die soon. Raiden had left his parents to bring his sister from village to village in search for someone who might be able to help. It was two weeks ago when he had heard of Tsunade and knew that she was his only hope. However, in the end, she had let him down too simply because she had no time to deal with outsiders of Konoha that had no money to pay for any treatments. She had, however, told him of a treatment that would help his sister. Now it was just about getting the money together to get her better. Sasuke felt his frown deepen as he thought over the situation.

"So she won't help Raiden, because it would take away from her other duties as the Hokage?" Sasuke asked.

"It's because he's not from Konoha," Sakura said bitterly. "She offered to have Shizune help him, but Shizune just isn't as good as Tsunade. I don't think she would be able to pull it off…and I'm no where near as skilled as Shizune so I really don't know what to tell him."

"Hn," Sasuke said, thinking. Well, not really thinking. He couldn't get over how Raiden was from the Sound Village, which was a detail Naruto had definitely left out. That's definitely where Orochimaru ruled. Well, not ruled officially, but definitely ruled still… There was no guarantee that Raiden would not turn on Konoha…

"So he wants to leave?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sakura said bitterly. "He's leaving tomorrow afternoon. He can't stay here if there's no hope that Tsunade will help him. I think he might drop his sister off with his parents and try to save up money for a treatment…"

"So you're breaking up?" Sasuke asked. His insides loosened at this thought and a weird feeling of exhilaration filled him. That's odd, he mused. Why was he so excited and relieved by this idea?

"We were never really together to begin with…he said he won't see me ever again probably after tomorrow," at this Sakura burst into tears again. "He won't even send a letter."

Oh no….Sasuke was not good at dealing with a crying woman. He hadn't any brothers to begin with and he had never seen his mother cry even once. Naruto, however, seemed like a natural for dealing with crying woman for whatever reason. Sasuke would have thought they were in the same boat about this one, but apparently not.

Naruto was rubbing Sakura's back and telling her that everything would work itself out with that goofy grin of his. Sasuke had to leave the room. He knew that it was a shitty thing to do, but he couldn't deal with Naruto touching Sakura and talking to her like that.

Wait. Was he jealous of Naruto? Wait….did that mean he was jealous of Raiden? Why was he jealous of either of them? That didn't make any sense at all. Why should he be jealous? What would he be jealous of?

He found himself in his room. His feet had brought him here on autopilot. What could he bring downstairs from his room that he could use as an excuse for leave…? He looked around. Lamp? No, it was dark but there was plenty of light down there…. Book….no…. Comforter? Maybe. Well, it couldn't hurt. Maybe Sakura was cold.

He grabbed his comforter and then brought it downstairs. Naruto was still comforting Sakura with that goofy grin, so Sasuke just threw the blanket awkwardly on her and went into the kitchen.

"Sasuke?" She questioned. He didn't respond to her voice, but continued his trek to his refrigerator. He pulled out a pitcher of cider and poured a cup of it. Shoving it into the microwave, he heated it up for a few seconds, and then brought it out to Sakura.

He delivered the cider and then took his previous seat. Sakura drunk it gratefully. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were red and puffy from her shed tears. Naruto practically beamed at Sasuke.

"Do you want me to walk you home after you're done with your drink?" Naurto asked soothingly. "I think a hot bath will really make you feel much better."

She shook her head, clutching her blanket closer to her.

"Do you want to come have a sleepover at my house?" Naruto asked her. She giggled at this, shot Sasuke a quick, embarrassed look, and then giggled again. Sasuke stared at her in bewilderment and then it dawned on him.

"No," Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, please," Naruto tried to look as pathetic as possible, but it didn't really have a great affect. "Look at her—she's distraught. She needs a place to stay…."

Sakura sighed and looked away from Sasuke. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. I don't need to stay here."

"No," Sasuke had a REALLY bad feeling that he was going to regret this. "It's fine. You can both stay here…."

Naruto let out a huge whoop of excitement. "I'll go run and get my TV! We can totally have a movie marathon! Do you want anything Sakura? Popcorn…I'll definitely get popcorn."

Naruto continued to babble to himself as he rushed out Sasuke's house and towards his own. This left Sasuke and Sakura in a very uncomfortable silence.

"Thank you for the cider and blanket," Sakura said. Sasuke merely nodded at their mention. It really wasn't a problem at all. "And thank you for listening to me and my problems… I know you probably have more important things to do and I don't even fall onto your list of importance…"

"That's not true," Sasuke said. Sakura's eyes lit up at his words and she smiled for the first time that night. Good, Sasuke thought, that was definitely a good thing to say. But he couldn't let it go at just that… "You're important…a teammate."

Her face fell at the word teammate and he cursed himself for saying it. She had looked so hopeful for a second there… Why was she hopeful? Sasuke wasn't exactly sure why he cared. When did he start caring about Sakura's moods and feelings and words? They had never bothered him before...

6.

Sakura felt very very uncomfortable being alone with Sasuke. Truth be told she had never spent more than five minutes alone with him at a time. She had forgotten how silent he was…how he never opened up to anyone. Even Naruto who was probably his best friend.

Neither she nor Naruto had seen his house before today and only saw it because Sakura busted in uninvited to yell at him. THAT pretty much spoke for itself how close the three were. And now they were having a sleepover? It had been such a bizarre day…

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked after another extremely long silence.

"Hn," He grunted.

"If you were to pick someone here as your best friend...who would it be?" Sakura asked. She wondered idly if she could get him talking…learn more about him. It never hurt to try, right?

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura couldn't help but to giggle at his lack of answer. She should have figured she could get no where with him…she never could after all.

"Why are you laughing?" Sasuke asked, sounding almost angry and a little hurt. "It would probably be Naruto I guess….kinda pathetic, huh?"

Sakura's laughter cut off abruptly. Did he really just answer her question? That was a first. "Naruto's a really good person have as your friend," she said with a smile. "He knows what to say to cheer you up no matter what even if it's just him being an idiot."

"Hn," Sasuke said. "Do you like him?"

Sakura stared at Sasuke in surprise. Did he just ask her if she liked Naruto?! "As a friend," she said, somewhat in shock. "I think Hinata would hurt me, which I don't doubt she could after her recent training with Negi, if I even looked at him in that way. Besides Naruto and I have a very brother-sister type relationship. That would just be awkward."

"You two seem close," Sasuke said. He seemed to be somewhat off in his own world and not really paying attention to what they were saying. Was he really opening up to her? When had he started opening up to her?!

"Do you like anyone right now Sasuke?" Sakura asked with a small smile. Would he actually tell her? She doubted it…

"I don't think I've ever had a crush," Sasuke said after a moment of consideration. "I don't even know what it really means to have one…"

"What do you mean?!" Sakura asked, somewhat mollified but pretty amused at the same time. "How can you not have had one? You haven't had any in school?"

"When?" Sasuke asked. "I was more concerned with learning and fighting…."

"You can't help it, it just happens," Sakura said with a smile. "Like my crush on you…"

She blushed furiously when she said that. What had possessed her to open her mouth?! Who says something like that to someone?!

"Well, I never liked anyone," Sasuke said evenly.

"Do you think…." Sakura hesitated now. Did she really want to ask him this? "That it would ever have worked out between us?"

"Maybe," Sasuke said. Sakura stared at him in shock. Did he just say that?! "If it weren't for my brother…."

Sakura sighed. Yes, his brother…. The genius gone crazy who destroyed the entire Uchiha clan, leaving only Sasuke behind. The young man who had deserted Konoha to join the Akatsuki.

Truth be told she could never really give up on Sasuke. She always came back to her crush on him no matter what happened… Even though she really liked and thought she possibly loved Raiden, well, she still felt her heart beat fast around Sasuke. She still felt nervous… She still….liked him…. It was kind of humorous that he asked her if she liked Naruto. A little absurd.

"Do you think it ever could work out with us?" Sasuke asked. This question REALLY surprised her.

"Not right now," Sakura admitted quietly. "I'm still in love with Raiden….and your brother is still at large…so no."

"Hn," Sasuke said. They lapsed into another silence, but this time it was almost unbearably awkward.

"Do you have any more blankets?" Sakura finally asked. We should probably get everything ready for when Naruto gets back. They spent the rest of the time Naruto was gone gathering blankets and pillows from around the house and setting up the living room to be more comfortable for their sleepover.

"I really appreciate this," Sakura told Sasuke again as they sat down on the floor and wrapped blankets around themselves. "You probably will never know how much…"

7.

Sakura didn't go to see Raiden off. One because she was furious with him by that time. Two because Team 7 were off on a mission the day Raiden packed up his things, grabbed his sister, and was gone for supposedly good. She told both Sasuke and Naruto, when they asked her if she wanted to leave to go say goodbye, that things were better off this way.

She had thought they were too… That was until when they were heading back after Sakura had a near death miss from not concentrating (which she was scolded for by Kakashi) and Sasuke pointed out that seeing Raiden one last time would be closure. Yes, it was Sasuke who said this, which made it even worse that she had realized that that was very much true.

She really wanted to see Raiden one last time… But when she got back to the village and looked for him she only saw an empty hotel room where he had been staying. She hadn't expected anything else… Maybe she had hoped, but expect? No. How could she?

He had left her nothing behind that could possibly remind her of him. No clothing…no personal items…not even a note. He had never given her anything in the week and a half she had known him…. It was such a little amount of time. So why did it hurt so much?

Naruto invited her to eat ramen with him that night. He paid for it and she appreciated the gesture, but she had wished that he had just left her alone. Hinata had come midmeal to yell at him for being out on a date, which Naruto vehemently denied it being a date and the premature couple fought in front of Sakura for a good 20 minutes before she had excused herself and left.

She found herself in the park, taking a walk without really thinking about anything in particular. Her mind felt numb…She couldn't gather any really distinct thoughts. So she just wandered, stopping here and there and just staring blankly out into space.

After a while she found herself in front of the gate to the Uchiha estate. She hesitated before wandering in. It didn't take her long to find Sasuke. He didn't seem surprised to see her there. She took a seat next to him at the end of the dock and they sat there in a comfortable silence.

"You were right," She said after a long time. Sasuke didn't even ask what, he simply allowed her to take her time. "I should've said goodbye."

He didn't say anything even after that. They just simply sat there for a very long time until Sakura fell asleep, her head on Sasuke's shoulder.

8.

The next week passed by really fast for Sasuke. Training seemed to be stepping up a lot and there was a lot less leisure time. Sasuke didn't mind: it suited him to be busy training. However, it made him wonder what Kakashi was preparing them for. Kakashi, however, kept an air of secrecy about him these days, refusing to say a word.

In their offtime Sakura kept on seeking Sasuke out. She seemed to prefer the Uchiha estate to the outside village and had taken to wandering around it by herself. Sasuke didn't mind, but for some reason he couldn't resist the temptation to follow her as she wandered.

They barely spoke to each other, but when they did it was small conversations about training or people they knew. It was never anything really personal like their first really deep conversation. This was the one thing that dissatisfied Sasuke, which he found slightly odd behavior on his part.

He could tell he had grown accustomed to having Sakura around. He even preferred her presence and hated it when she left for the night, saying goodbye with a small smile and hug. Every time she hugged him it made a warm feeling spread inside him and reminded him of a mixture of his mother and something else he couldn't quite place.

He caught her staring at him a couple times while they were on missions, studying him. He didn't mind: he oft times found himself staring at her in much the same way. Soon, he found himself making excuses to get closer to her, brush his hand against hers…every time they came into contact his heart soared.

"Do you want to spar?" Sasuke asked her one day while they sat together on the dock.

She hesistated and then agreed. "No Sharingan though," she said with a grin.

"Deal," He said. Sasuke stood up and then helped Sakura to her feet. They walked congenially up to a more open space a few yards away. There were a few trees, but none were very close together and it was a mostly clear area. "No ruining my lawn either," he warned her.

They fell into an easy routine of throwing kunais and dodging them. Sakura tried her best to outsmart him, coming up with a few really good traps. However, Sasuke dodged them all and landing onto a nearby tree, sideways and crouched down.

Sakura pulled out a kunai and waited for him to come for her, knowing that he had an advantage of height from the tree and she needed him down on her level. He somersaulted towards her and she kicked out, catching him off guard so that he tumbled in a heap onto the ground.

She laughed at his undignified position and jumped onto him, effectively pinning him down. "Now what are you going to do?" She taunted, happy with herself. He looked up at her, looking a bit surly and she only grinned back. "I have the great mighty Sasuke right here underneath me," she giggled evily. "What should I do?" She grinned at him, an idea coming to her right away. "I wonder…if…" And she began tickling him viciously.

"Stop!" He gasped, squirming underneath her. With great effort her threw her off him and rolled over onto her so he was straddling her, pinning her arms to the ground. "That's not nice," he told her with a wolfish grin.

"I didn't think you would really be ticklish," She grinned up at him

Being at such close proximity to Sakura was intoxicating. Before he really thought about it he bent over and planted a kiss on her surprised lips. His grip on her arms weakened and she reached up and pulled him closer to her so they were both lying in a squirming heap on the ground, unable to break from their embrace.

Sasuke couldn't get close enough to her and he didn't know what was wrong with him. She rolled over on top of him so it was her with her legs wrapped around his stomach like a pretzel in control for a fraction of a minute until Sakura emerged from their embrace for air.

"Sasuke," She started, sounding confused. "Why?"

What were they doing? Sasuke had really nothing to say. He didn't know why but he just wanted to kiss her….be near to her…. He tried to kiss her again but she pulled back.

"Sasuke, please," she said, looking miserable. She stared him directly in his eyes now. "You need to talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?" He questioned.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked, still searching his eyes for a clue.

"I don't know," he admitted.

She sighed and disentangled herself from him. "Well, you better find out."

With that she left him there, still sitting on the ground, completely confused and a little annoyed. Did that really just happen? And did she really just say that? What did he want…?

He spent the rest of the night mulling over that question.

9.

The next couple of days went by in a blur to Sakura. Team 7 went on a C rank mission to protect some delegate on his journey to Konoha. The trip to the delegate was fast, but coming back to Konoha was extremely slow traveling.

Sakura and Sasuke could barely even look at each other the entire trip. It got so bad that Kakashi pulled Sasuke aside to have a word with him. Naruto took this chance to grill Sakura.

"What's going on between you and Sasuke?" He asked.

"Nothing," Sakura said automatically. "We just kissed. That's all…."

"KISSED?!" Naruto practically shouted.

"Shut up you idiot!" Sakura smacked him hard on the head. "I don't want the entire world to know!"

"I KNEW something strange was going on!" Naruto said. "He's been acting so weird lately! And you too! I just thought it was because of that other guy….wow, you move through men fast Sakura!"

This earned Naruto another slap, but this time to the face. Sakura stalked off to stand by the delegate, her expression furious.

"Whoops," Naruto said to himself. "I might have gone a little far."

After that incident, however, nothing seemed to have changed at all between Sakura and Sasuke. If anything it just made things worse with Kakashi's knowing exasperation and Naruto's giggling like a schoolgirl. Sasuke even punched Naruto a few times he was that annoying. In fact, the two boys definitely fought a lot more than usual.

After they got back to Konoha things did not get much better. Sakura caught herself in front of the Uchiha estate a few times, but told herself it would be better if she didn't enter and turned around immediately.

The problem wasn't that they kissed… She had enjoyed it immensely. The problem wasn't even dislike. She had always loved Sasuke… She would be with him in a heartbeat if he asked her to… The problem was that it was very obvious Sasuke didn't know what his feelings exactly were towards Sakura and she sure as hell was not about to get back into a relationship if there wasn't 100 on both sides.

She would wait for Sasuke to come to her. That's what she had decided that first night when the incident had occurred. However, it had now been a little over two weeks and there was no sign that Sasuke would ever talk to her again let alone seek her out.

She was just about to go find him when she saw that her family had mail. Grabbing it out of the mailbox, she went to bring it inside when she saw that the note wasn't for her mother or father, but actually for her. Her heart leaped to her throat as she opened up the letter, knowing before she even saw the name signed at the bottom who it had to be.

Raiden.

She read the note once and then had to read it through again.

Dear Sakura,

My apologies again for the way we parted. I really did care about you, but I'm sure that means little to you now. My sister and I made it home safely and have probably been here for a few weeks now when this letter gets to you. Right after we got home my father passed away. He was chopping down a tree and a branch fell on him, crushing him.

You may wonder why I am telling you this…. I'm sort of wondering it as well. I meant to come see you as soon as I visited home. I never wanted to leave you permanently. I thought I would be able to drop off and then go out and work on the road. It brings in a lot more money that way. That's a bit impossible right now…so if you ever are heading my way, you'll always have free room and board with me.

I wish things could have worked out between us. I miss you.

Raiden

Sakura headed back into the house without really thinking about where she was going. She went up to her room and began to pack her bag in a daze. Alls she needed was clothes and supplies…

When she stopped back downstairs she realized her mother had made bread that morning and grabbed it before scrawling out a note to her parents:

Going to visit a friend. Urgent. Back in a few days.

Sakura

PS- Sorry for stealing the bread.

As she reentered the wintry night air, she realized she needed to make two stops before she could head out completely. One to Tsunade to inform her of her trip and another to Kakashi. That way she wouldn't be construed as a missing nin and they wouldn't complain about her slacking off of work.

Her plans were flawless for being so spur of the moment. She prided herself on that fact. However, she had forgotten one detail…. Sasuke.

10.

Sasuke turned up at the training grounds at the prescribed time they usually arrived the next morning. He wasn't exactly happy at the prospect of going there, but he went nonetheless. It was usually him and Sakura as the first arrivals, which had been extremely awkward as of late.

However, when he arrived there this time no one else was in sight. When Naruto arrived and there was still no sign of Sakura Sasuke began to worry. His worry turned to panic when he saw Kakashi strolling down the lane, looking nonplussed that Sakura was nowhere in sight.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said. "I think something's wrong with Sakura! She's never late!"

"Sakura left last night," Kakashi said. "She informed both Tsunade-sama and me of her trip."

"What trip?" Sasuke asked. His panic was subsiding, but he was not happy in the least of this news. Why hadn't she told him?

"Apparently something happened to the young man she met's family," Kakashi said. "She went to visit them and make sure they are alright."

Now this piece of information REALLY did not make Sasuke happy. "Where is he?" Sasuke bit out.

"Calm down," Kakashi said lazily.

Sasuke didn't even acknowledge his teacher and began walking away not intending to say anything else.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, still sounding calm. "If you leave without getting permission from the Hokage you are in violation of the Code of the Ninja. We still have a mission to fulfill today. You are going to have to wait to chase after Sakura or you'll be deemed as a runaway nin."

Sasuke stopped walking, but didn't turn around and did not make any move to head back towards Naruto and Kakashi. He was furious. He hated that it was Kakashi and Tsunade whom dictated his life and he had so little control.

"It just so happens," Kakashi said with a concealed smile. "That our mission is to provide reconnaissance to the Sound village and report back to Tsunade on our finds of how many of the villagers support Orochimaru. She is thinking about sending a delegation."

"Why didn't you guys just have Sakura wait to travel with us?" Naruto questioned, sounding confused.

"Because we're going in disguise," Kakashi said. "And it is very important that we don't blow our cover. This means that neither of you can talk to Sakura in public and aren't to do anything to compromise the mission. Go pack and meet me back here in an hour. If you don't think you can control yourself and fulfill the mission I want you to tell me now."

"Did you accept this mission today Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked. This mission was entirely too convenient for Sasuke not to be suspicious of the motives.

"The mission was inspired by Raiden, yes, if that's what you mean," Kakashi said silkily. It was obvious that he was not going to give up any more information then he wanted to. It was quite maddening. "Tsunade-sama saw that he was definitely not on Orochimaru's side, which brought to question if he was the minority or majority. The Sound Village might have been taken in as much by Orochimaru's trick of pretending to be their Hokage as we were. And, yes, I did accept this mission this morning or I would have told you about it yesterday."

That was really all Sasuke needed to know.

10.

"Sakura?" Raiden looked aghast to see her at his front doorsteps. "You didn't….you look exhausted!"

He quickly let her in, to Sakura's relief and gave her a very tight hug and then peck on the lips. She hugged him back, finally content. She had rushed as fast as she could to get there, because she had been so worried about him. Tsunade had tried to convince her to wait to go with Team 7 in the morning, but Sakura assured her she was fine on her own.

"How are you? How's Ana?" Sakura asked, looking around until she spotted Raiden's little sister on the couch, looking worn.

"I'm just glad we got back in time to see him before…." Raiden sounded extremely drained at this thought. All the fight seemed to have gone out of him. Sakura kept expecting him to start shouting at her for being so reckless as to come here.

"I told you not to come," He said helplessly after a moment of silence in which Sakura was examining Ana.

She straightened and looked him in the eye. "I wanted to," she said. "You sounded like you needed me whether you wanted me to come or not."

He smiled at this and drew her close in another hug. "I love you," he whispered to her, not willing to let her go any time soon. She held him back, but didn't say anything to this.

"I'm so sorry about your dad," she said instead after a moment of silence.

"It can't be helped," Raiden said quietly. He was darting a look over Sakura's shoulder at Ana to make sure she was alright. Sakura noted this with a sinking in her stomach. She had hoped desperately that this wouldn't be the case. She knew how much Ana adored her father and how much he had adored her…she had heard so many stories. Ana's face lit up at all of them… "Ana are you hungry?"

She simple stared blankly ahead of her Sakura noted as she disengaged herself from Raiden and sat down next to the girl once again. Ana didn't even look at her let alone acknowledge her presence. Sakura pulled the girl towards her in a sisterly hug. She didn't resist.

Raiden returned a moment later with food. "Here you go," he bent down to give it to her and then pulled Sakura up off of the couch. "Come on Sakura, I want to introduce you to my mother and then I'll show you around."

"You don't need to go out of your way for me," Sakura told him quickly, but he touched her nose playfully and then dragged her into the next room.

"Mom!" Raiden said loudly. His mother was in the middle of chopping up potatoes. "Mom, this is Sakura. Sakura, this is my mom."

"Hello," Sakura said, holding out her hand to greet Raiden's mother.

"Hello dear," she said, pulling Sakura into a hug instead. "I've heard so much about you from Raiden. Thank you for coming."

"Thank you for having me," Sakura immediately said back and bowed. "I'm so sorry about your husband."

The older woman teared up at the mention of her dead husband and Sakura regretted saying anything. She waved away Sakura's worry, however, and Raiden gently led Sakura out of the room and house and into the chilly winter air again.

"Things are still a little bit crazy," he admitted with a sad smile. "Come on, I'll show you the waterfall I told you about."

Sakura stared at him in surprise. "Really? I really wanted to see it!"

"I know," he said with a laugh. "It'll make your trip here worth it, come on!"

He led her through the field that was covered with snow and into the nearby woods. They walked for a few minutes before coming up to a river. They followed it down for another few minutes, the sound of waterfall gradually growing louder and louder with each step.

As they walked they chatted like they used to, well, when they weren't fighting that is, and walked hand in hand. Raiden looked much happier then he did when she first walked into his house and Sakura felt relieved at this thought. The waterfall was amazing. It was even better than what Raiden had described.

"Happy?" Raiden asked, trying to pull her into another embrace. This time, however, she sidestepped out of it. "What's wrong?"

"You broke up with me," Sakura said. She wasn't accusing him of anything, but she needed make sure intentions were clear. She wasn't about to get into another situation with Raiden as she had a little less then a month ago. There was just no way she would set herself up to get hurt again so soon.

"Oh," Raiden said, looking almost embarrassed. "I just thought…."

"I'm sorry," Sakura told him. "I had a lot of time to think about us….and what happened between us. I really like you Raiden."

"I like you Sakura," Raiden said softly. "I don't think I'll ever stop."

"That's flattering, thank you," Sakura said. "But, I think it might be best if we both move on. I still am your friend and I'll be there if you need me to be, like now, but that's as far as it goes. You missed your chance if you wanted more…."

Raiden looked disappointed now: and not just disappointed, but a little hurt at this rejection. Sakura felt miserable, but she knew this is what had to be done. If she and Raiden lived in the same village things probably would have a different ending, but they didn't.

"It's that boy right?" Raiden questioned.

"Who?"

"That boy with dark hair? The one that you had a crush on, but he spurned you?" Raiden asked.

"Sasuke?" Sakura was surprised that he even remembered her telling him that story.

"Yes him," He said. "I always saw him staring at you when I watched your training. But I didn't think you two would start dating this soon…."

"We aren't," Sakura said, a little scandalized that he was accusing the two of them as such things. "Sasuke and I are just friends…."

"Well it's obvious the two of you are pretty much in love," Raiden said, sounding like a rejected child.

"Stop being so whiny," Sakura told him, loosing her temper. "There's nothing going on between us."

"Whatever," Raiden said, obviously sulking.

11.

It took the rest of Team 7 the entire day to get to the Sound Village. This infuriated Sasuke, because he knew that Sakura was already there with Raiden doing who knew what. Not that he could stop them anyway….

He was miserable and he didn't understand why. Why did what Sakura do affect him so much? Why was he so unhappy that she was with Raiden? Why, why, why did he miss her and worry and want to rush ahead of everyone else and just make sure she was alright?

What were his intentions? What did he want from her? Those were questions that he did not know the answer to even after the few days he had to think solely on them alone. He just knew he wanted her by his side and wanted to be by hers.

"I wouldn't worry about Raiden," Naruto tried to assure him when Kakashi made them stop right outside of the village for the night. This was the most infuriating move of them all: Sakura was sleeping in Raiden's HOME and they were just letting it happen. Just waiting for the morning after whatever indecent thing…!

"Shut up Naruto," Sasuke said, breaking into his own thoughts. "I don't want to hear it."

"What?" Naruto asked innocently. "Jealous?"

Sasuke looked indignant. "Of whom?!"

"Worried Sakura's going to want to stay with Raiden?" Naruto taunted him.

"So what if she does want to stay," Sasuke mumbled, sounding very insincere.

"Sasuke loves Sakura! Sasuke loves Sakura!" Naruto chanted like a five year old.

"Naruto, you better shut up, or I am going to bash you face in," Sasuke gritted out.

Kakashi wasn't paying attention to his fighting students. Instead he was finding the most comfortable place to spend the night and maneuvering his knapsack so that it was as comfortable as it possibly could be.

He didn't even blink when Sasuke did stand up and attempt to follow through on his threat. In fact, he seemed to pass out even with all the noise. It was probably due to years of the two arguing that this sleep was achieved.

"Come on, let's train!" Naruto said eagerly, leading Sasuke away from their campsite without waiting for his answer.

"Not right now Naruto," Sasuke gritted his teeth as he tried to stop the boy.

Once they were far enough away to be out of earshot Naruto gave Sasuke an even larger grin, if that was even possible. "Now Kakashi isn't going to wonder where we are if we disappear for an hour or so," Naruto sounded very please with himself.

Sasuke punched him square in the face anyway.

"Ow, what was that for?" Naruto whined, holding his face. "That hurt! You and Sakura need to stop taking out your anger on me! I'm going to need therapy soon."

"What are we really supposed to do Naruto?" Sasuke asked angrily. "Waltz up to the door?"

"Do you want to leave her there with Raiden?" Naruto shot back. "I don't and I'm not even the one in love with her!"

There it was. Naruto had said it so casually and Sasuke couldn't even fathom the existence of the word let alone realize… Wait. Did he love Sakura? Was that the answer to her question? "I love you?" Was that even something someone was supposed to say to another person that they weren't even dating?

"Let's go get her," Sasuke said, suddenly determined to tell her how he felt once and for all.

12.

"You can stay with Ana," Raiden had told Sakura with a sad smile before wishing her goodnight. Unfortunately, they had argued practically the entire way back home. That seemed to be all their relationship was based on…argument.

Sakura really did not feel bad about letting Raiden go. They worked better as friends. Besides she really did like Sasuke. She missed him now that she was away from Konoha. It had taken her until she was halfway to the village to realize that she had wanted to talk to him before leaving. Now that she was here she wished she had waited for the rest of Team 7. Were they in the village by now? Or were they in route? She wondered idly where Sasuke was the entire time she got ready for bed.

She was so preoccupied that she didn't hear Ana's voice until she shouted: "SAKURA!" on practically the top of her lungs.

"What?!" Sakura jumped up, ready to fight, looking around wildly. Ana looked bemusedly up at her.

"That took a lot," Ana said calmly. "There's been a pounding on the window for the last five minutes at least."

"Oh," Sakura said, feeling sheepish. Why hadn't she heard that? The knocking came a second later and Sakura hurried to the window to peer out it. She let out a gasp of surprise and delight when she saw Naruto's face pressed against the glass. She motioned to the door downstairs and hurried out of the room, not even explaining to Ana who it was.

"Naruto!" Sakura said happily, flinging herself into his arms for a hug. "When did you guys get in?"

"Happy to see me?" Naruto grinned. "Just now. Kakashi's making us wait outside the village until the morning to go in. Sasuke and I thought we would go ahead and 'spar.'"

"You snuck away from Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said, shocked. However, she was already peering around Naruto, trying to see where Sasuke was. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Uh," Naruto said, scratching his head.

"Right here," came a voice behind her.

Sakura jumped, whipping around, and found herself in an embrace. She hugged Sasuke back without thinking, sighing in relief at his presense.

"Sasuke, I have something I wanted to confess…" Sakura told him quietly.

"Uh, I'm going to go back to the camp now I think," Naruto said, stumbling over his words. "You guys look like you have a lot to talk about…."

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura called after him. Her merely waved and disappeared back into the forest.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, pulling away from her before she could speak again. "I have an answer to your question finally."

Sakura was surprised. She had thought that he was ignoring her….or just not even considering her words. Despite the fact that she was just going to confess to him her feelings she really did think that her crush was entirely one-sided. It had gone on too long unrequited for her to believe any differently. But he couldn't have been pondering that one question this entire time. Right? He wouldn't…..? Right?

"What question?" She asked, just trying to clarify what they were talking about.

"The 'What do you want' question," Sasuke said.

"Oh?" Sakura asked, interested. "What DO you want Sasuke?"

"You," Sasuke said with one of his seldom smiles.

Sakura stared at him for a moment, her breath catching in her throat. She searched his eyes furiously. Did he really mean that?

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, staring at her nervously. Wait, Sasuke nervous?

"You," Sakura said, her voice catching.

They kissed then. Sakura thought that if there was ever a time fireworks there was no more appropriate time than this. He tasted even better then he had the last time….like wind and something indescribably sweet.

All of her concerns were erased from her mind as she gave in to his body, pressing up against it as if she wanted to merge them together. It was like unspeakable attraction. She had waited a long time for this moment and didn't regret it in the least.


End file.
